VARINIA A RODRIGUEZ

Varinia A Rodriguez (she/her) is the author of The Jellyfish Dream, a book of poetry interlaced with photography that documents a decade of healing throughout her twenties. She graduated from the University of Denver in 2013, moved to San Diego in 2014, and spent several years backpacking through Mexico, Central America, and Cuba before 2020. She returned to Denver in July 2025.

A reformed sad girlie, Varinia has transformed a feeling of brokenness into an inner community she continues to nurture. She fell in love with poetry as a teen through a deep sense of existential sadness, listening to Buddy Wakefield’s “Convenience Stores” on repeat until the world bloomed in richer colors.

Her creativity is fueled by relishing in the joy of small things in life and by tactile practices like watercoloring and embroidery, which extend her poetry into the physical realm. She hopes her art offers both comfort and challenge, like a hot bath after a long day or a sauna that cleanses the spirit.

Varinia is an avid reader of self-help literature and offers sliding scale tarot readings through video chat. She is a proud cat mom of 4 and is happily married. Varinia is currently working on a memoir titled Accepting that I’m Happy.

BOOKS

The Jellyfish Dream // South Broadway Press (Punch Drunk Press)

ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

A Winter’s Night // South Broadway Ghost Society

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

South Broadway Press interviewed Varinia Rodriguez to get to know the author of The Jellyfish Dream a little better.

SBP: WHAT IS FUELING YOUR CREATIVITY RIGHT NOW? WHERE DO YOU FEEL AT YOUR MOST CREATIVE?

VR: The acceptance of joy. I have been dabbling in water coloring and embroidery, things that make me more connected to being present, that let me get out of my head. It’s an extension of poetry into a physical realm.

SBP: WHAT MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH POETRY?

VR: Sadness – I feel like, as a teen, I had an existential sadness; my brother would joke that a butterfly could bat its eyelashes at me and it would make me cry. (Goddamn, that imagery is sooo good.)

So when I heard Buddy Wakefield’s “Convenience Stores” at the age of 15, I listened to it on repeat for days, and felt a connection like no other. Then I expanded to listening to other poets, embracing their anger, their hurt, their joy, and the world filled out with richer colors.

SBP: WHO DO YOU HOPE FINDS YOUR POETRY?

VR: People who have had existential sadness and are healing it. I want my poetry to be a hot bath after a long day.

SBP: WHO IS YOUR ART FOR?

VR: For me. It’s a time capsule of who I was, am, and aspire to be.

SBP: IF YOUR WRITING WERE A KEY, WHAT DOOR WOULD IT UNLOCK, AND WHAT WOULD YOUR READERS FIND ON THE OTHER SIDE?

VR: A sauna. A place that would make you sweat, make you a little uncomfortable, but overall just cleanse something out of you.

SBP: WHAT POEM IN YOUR BOOK WENT TO A PLACE YOU WEREN’T EXPECTING, OR WHICH WAS THE MOST/LEAST CHALLENGING TO WRITE?

VR: “Sincerely, Rum” was totally unexpected. I started writing that as a journal entry and turned it into a poem because the interactions that day just felt like something out of a Richard Linklater movie. It came out so easily, and every time I read it, I’m like, “Wait, I wrote that?”

SBP: WHAT HAS BROUGHT YOU JOY THIS LAST YEAR?

VR: Aerial Lyra. It’s the hoop in the air. I was so bad in my first class, I could barely pull myself into the hoop. But it’s my journey of embracing being bad at something, setting goals, and completely defying my own expectations. Now, being in the air, spinning just makes me feel so free and clears my mind. And it looks so fucking cool.

SBP: WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT OBSESSION?

VR: 2 things. Lestat from the new Interview with the Vampire series and embroidery. I love a bisexual serving cunt, it ignites my heart. And embroidery makes me feel connected to my culture and women from all walks of life throughout the ages, which nourishes my soul.

SBP: WHAT MAKES SOMETHING HARD TO WRITE OR CREATE?

VR: The desire to make it palpable and worthy of being heard… Whenever I get hung up on who is going to receive what I wrote or if they will like it, I get too stuck in my head and I can’t get any writing done.

SBP: WHAT IS THE VALUE OF WRITING AND ART IN THE CURRENT STATE OF THE WORLD?

VR: Poetry and art open doors and show people that there are new possibilities in the world. And it does this while meeting people where they are at.

The first time you look at art or hear a poem, it’s filtered by who you are in that moment in time, and if you are curious, it can get you to so many different places as a person. Those pieces will always be the same, but the meaning you will take away as you process it with others and engage in other world views can change lives, then the masses, then the world. Art and poetry drive culture to adapt, heal, rebel, etc.